JP Morgan, Schroders and the consultancy Mercer are pretty excited about their latest pensions deal. They have arranged for a client to cover itself against the risk that its younger staff will live longer than expected, which they reckon has never been done before.

Banks have arranged longevity deals to cover company pension funds before - Deutsche Bank did a swap with BMW, while Credit Suisse arranged one with the engineering group Babcock International. But these only covered pensioners; staff who have already retired.